These two illuminated signs at Boulevard Burger at 3714 Castro Valley Blvd. were removed over the weekend for being amiss with Alameda County regulations.

By Robert Souza

CASTRO VALLEY FORUM

Signs have a way of stirring up trouble in Castro Valley.

The latest brouhaha was over those at Boulevard Burger on Castro Valley Blvd. where one of the owners of the ’50s-style diner is as hot as their Famous Chili over the county’s order to remove their illuminated signs.

“It’s dictatorial and like a Communist state” angry co-owner Gordon Galvan told the Forum during a telephone interview Friday.

Galvan said he received notice on Jan. 3 that the signs, which had been up for more than two months, had be taken down within 10 days or the restaurant would be fined for each day they remain up past the deadline.

County Code Enforcement Director Tona Henninger said Boulevard Burgers didn’t follow Alameda County’s rules overseeing which signs can be used or how they are installed. She said neither the illuminated arrow, which extended below the parapet, nor the large lighted sign reading “BLVD” had been approved.

Henninger said the county wasn’t “out to punish businesses,” but has to have them follow established regulations.

The signs came down Monday afternoon.

Galvan, a former member of San Leandro’s city council, was upset that there was no way of appealing the county’s order. He said he wasn’t made aware of any sign regulations and wished there had been an alternative to removing and scrapping the vintage signs.